GUTHRIE COUNTY, IOWA – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a drowning at Lake Panorama on Saturday morning.
Around 11:00am on Saturday, the Iowa DNR received a call of a man in the water that was unresponsive. Through the investigation it was determined that Ashton Maier, 19, of Grimes, was kayaking with friends when he somehow exited his kayak and went under the water and didn’t resurface for some time.
When bystanders found his body, they performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took over; he was then taken by air ambulance to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, where he died on Saturday evening.
When Maier was found, he was not wearing a personal flotation device; however, he did have a personal flotation device within his kayak. The DNR urges everyone to wear your personal flotation device while on the waters.
